Note: Mallett's agents and the Panthers organization have both issued statements claiming the quarterback was genuinely sick on the morning of April 9. You can read those statements here.

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If the sources talking to Brad Briggs of the National Football Post are correct, Ryan Mallett’s draft stock could soon take a serious hit. Briggs says the Arkansas quarterback skipped a pre-draft meeting with the Panthers earlier this month after a night out on the town in Charlotte.

Mallett reportedly arrived in town April 8 and met team officials for a dinner that night. There were supposed to be meetings the next day at Bank of America Stadium but they were cancelled after Mallett called the team saying he was sick. The problem? Sources say Mallett was seen out on the town following the late dinner.

Earlier this week there were reports that Mallett had admitted to teams that he has used drugs in the past. Questions about rumored failed drug tests and character concerns have dogged the talented pocket passer throughout the 2011 draft process.

UPDATE 12:40 p.m. EST:Briggs isn't the only one reporting this. Joe Person of the Charlotte Observer says league sources tell him Mallett skipped a meeting with GM Marty Hurney.

“I’m pretty sure Ryan was really, really sick. He told me he was sick the night before. And I know Ryan wasn’t out late night. I know that for sure. He’s not an idiot.”

Carroll says Mallett had dinner with Julio Jones the night of April 8 but left early because he did not feel well. He also says Mallett met with Panthers offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski the next morning but cancelled the rest of the day’s meetings due to sickness.

BREAKING NEWS: Bill Belichick is willing to trade draft picks. Shocking, I know, right? Actually, Belichick was responding to the fact that everyone thinks they'll be trading. They probably will, because that's what they do, but for whatever reason, it's just assumed that everyone can have their pile of picks if they give something else up. Maybe the Pats actually want to nail some early-round picks this time.

Our own Mike Freeman hopped on Pro Football Talk Live! (it is Live! and not Live, right?) with Mike Florio to talk about the labor situation, the draft and Jon Gruden. I think Florio's a decent enough looking fella, but I prefer to take him in the ear. Er, wait -- you can listen here and watch here.

Jon Gruden is known as an "NFL Draft quarterback expert" of sorts. This is partially because he helped the Oakland offense become historically awesome, partially because he won a Super Bowl with Brad Johnson, and mostly because ESPN is marketing him as THIS GUY WHO KNOWS ABOUT YOUNG QUARTERBACKS, whether you like it or not.

"I won’t watch [Gruden's quarterback camps]," King said. "I disagree with the premise of the show. The premise is that Gruden is some kind of quarterbacks guru and that having him as a destination for a rookie QB is the ideal situation for a rookie and that just hasn’t proven to the case."

Fortunately, just a short time after King ripped Gruden's development of young signal callers, Gruden was on a conference call with the media relating to his draft evaluation. And Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk was kind enough to ask about King's comments.

None of those guys have turned out to be anything remotely above average in the NFL (though Gradkowski, somewhat ironically, started for the Raiders).

Having pointed that out, Gruden's never tried his hand with a first-round talent, and he's obviously had plenty of success with veteran quarterbacks in the NFL. He did win a Super Bowl, after all; and one in which he beat the team he basically constructed, no less.

Apparently, former Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett has had some stunning confessions in the lead-up to the NFL draft. As Pro Football Weekly reports, Mallett has admitted to using drugs to prospective employers.

Yet, he struck a different tone while talking to KRJ radio in Seattle earlier today, when Mallett described why he felt he got a raw deal from NFL.com’s Albert Breer in a previous story that discussed some teams’ concerns about his off-field activities.

Said Mallett (via sportsradiointerviews.com) : “Because Albert [Breer] doesn’t know me. Yeah, Albert doesn’t know me and Albert’s never been around me. Albert doesn’t know what kind of guy I am. That’s why I love these visits, being around the team, so they can see what kind of guy I am and what kind of person I am because all these reports about all this other stuff is mind boggling to me. I don’t know where he gets his information, but to me he got false information.”

Which naturally transitions us into today’s PFW report about Mallett's supposed drug use. One GM told PFW’s Nolan Nawrocki that it was the first time he ever heard a draftee admit that, and a league executive told him that he wouldn’t take Mallett at any point in the draft.

For the record, Breer’s story ran in early January, and the mention of Mallett’s off-field activities was 17 words long.

When Jon Gruden had a chat with former Auburn QB Cam Newton, he put the potential No. 1 pick on the spot, and it didn’t go so well. Gruden asked Newton to call a play from Auburn’s offense, and frankly, Newton couldn’t do it.

To be fair, just what in the hell does “flip right double X jet 36 counter naked waglet 7 X quarter” mean, anyway?

I don’t know. And apparently neither does Newton. But Gruden, in the video below (via Sports By Brooks) , makes a good point about Newton’s readiness to play QB in the NFL.

The video is a little weird, because Gruden basically pounds Newton (but not in a jerkish kind of way). But Gruden also does a nice job exposing one of Newton’s big weaknesses heading into the NFL draft.

And you have to ask yourself? Is Newton really the player you want to take with the No. 1 pick?

Posted by Andy BenoitColin Kaepernick’s draft stock is rising. Some are even suggesting the Nevada quarterback could be tabbed in the first round. (NFL Draft Scout has Kaepernick rated as the No. 6 quarterback.)

Kaepernick’s versatility, leadership and production in college have drawn praise, and unlike most of the top quarterback prospects this year, he has not been dogged by stigmas about character, intelligence or pro readiness (though it’s still hard to see how his experience in the Wolfpack’s pistol offense will help him at the next level).

The NFL is taking notice of Kaepernick’s rising stock. According to Pro Football Talk, he is now the 24th player to receive an invite to Radio City Music Hall. The league would not extend that invitation if

There seems to be plenty of confusion about the condition of Clemson DE DaQuan Bowers’ knee. Apparently, he’s been cleared to play by a number of team’s doctors, but others claim that he’s got a degenerative problem that will scare off teams who are looking for a DE.

We know that he didn’t work out at the NFL combine because he wasn’t 100 percent (even though curiously he said he was) , and we know he had to forgo Clemson’s original Pro Day because he wasn’t ready to perform. Then, he had a so-so personal workout that has plenty of teams worried about his future.

According to Pro Football Weekly, Bowers (along with USC OT Tyron Smith) received low scores during their NFL combine medical re-checks. That’s, um, not a good thing.

"He's talented," an NFL executive told PFW, "but that's a lot of risk to take. You might not get much in Year One and how long is he going to last? Our doctors said he would be lucky to play out his rookie contract. He's a very humble kid. You hope he could overcome it. But we couldn't take him where we are picking (in the middle third of the first round). Someone else might. We would discuss it in the second round."

It still would be surprising to see Bowers slip out of the first round completely – and, in reality, media reports can be unreliable for what a team or teams are really thinking – but if his knee IS degenerative, that’s a big problem for him.

All of it compelled Bowers’ agent, Joe Flanagan, to issue tonight a very long statement in response. You can read it here , but here’s a small taste:

"As to his progress and the feedback from the medical recheck, every team we've spoken to, including multiple GMs, has said that, overall, Da'Quan's knee has shown good healing, has continued to get better since the Combine, and, perhaps most importantly, showed absolutely no acute or remote ill-effects as a result of his April 1 workout (i.e. no swelling, no increase in laxity, etc.). We know of at least two "stations" (multiple doctors) at the recheck who improved his grade from the Combine. In short, their doctors indicated that the fact that the knee didn't swell up after a full pro-day workout, followed immediately by a week of visiting teams via air travel (which can increase swelling) is clearly a very positive sign. Bottom line: if it's holding up from a pounding in April, it should clearly hold up in August.

Tom Brady, as you will see about 5,000* times over the next few hours, is going to cry on television soon. A certain four-letter sports network got him to weep on camera about his sixth-round selection back in 2000 and, well, it's a heart-wrenching story about how tough his life's been. Or maybe he just likes to cry a lot? After all, the gents over at Tauntr.com did happen to catch a montage of him sobbing over the recent booting of Pia from "American Idol."

According to Tim Leiweke, the CEO of AEG and therefore a primary investor in the downtown L.A. stadium effort, the NFL will "double" its rights fees in the next television contract negotiations. Yowza.